Link to the word cloud

For those who asked for it, here is the link to the word cloud:
http://snapshirts.com/custom.php

Word Cloud

I am copying my friend, Victoria on this idea.... but it was too cool! Below is a "word cloud" from my blog. It lists the words most commonly used in my blog entries, and the words used most often appear bigger in the cloud. I thought it was neat to see what I talk about most often!
Here is mine:

Fun With Friends!

Sweet little Griffin! almost 6 weeks old!

Bryson was just checking him out! It was so cute!

The mammas and the babies!

Here is the gang at Chuys... minus the daddies... they were behind the camera trying to get the kids to all look and smile!

Coby and Cason - First day of school

This was the first year that the first day of preschool was a very big deal to the boys... I guess because of the big deal with the first day of kindergarten. We found backpacks on sale last week after the rush of school starting, so Coby picked out a Thomas backpack and Caosn got a Superman one. They have worn the all around the house! The other day I looked out the back window and they were jumping on the trampoline with them on! Anyways, here are some pics from their first day of school.....

Coby was so excited about his new back pack that it was the first thing he did when he woke up. Here he is eating breakfast with it on!

Cason on the otherhand is a messy muffin eater, so he has to eat his breakfast in the buff!

The sun was really bright and right in their eyes, plus it was getting hot, so they were not thrilled with having their picture made! It didnt capture the moment the way I had hoped, but it is a picture nonetheless!

Baby Bryson Update!

Sweet Little Bryson is growing, growing!! He was 20 lbs, 12 oz at his last appointment about 2-3 weeks ago. He is now sitting up and army crawling... But much to my surprise, he is really not into everything (yet!). He just kinda crawls around the living room and plays with all the toys scattered about. He is just beginning to wave bye-bye and his only word is "ba-ba" which he uses for everything. I like to pretend he is saying bye-bye or bubba or mama, or what ever I have told him to say! He is still an incredibly easy and content baby. He smiles at anything he think might be looking at him... stuffed animals included! He absolutely LOVES his brothers! He gets all excited when any of them come into view! And they love him, too... almost too much. We are constantly telling them "thats enough... too much love... etc" They are so cute with him!!!
He is such a snuggle-bug... he gives hugs and pats you on the back when you snuggle with him... it is so sweet!

I think he is the ticklish of the 4 boys. And all the brothers have learned where his tickle spots are, so they LOVE "gettin'" him! Here is daddy getting his neck. He was cackling out loud!

Here is Bryson with his buddy, Brtinon on the trampoline. We made the big boys get off and give the babies a turn.... they had a blast! Please excuse the drool ring on his shirt... I guess he is cutting teeth or something.... he is a faucet!

First Day of School!!

Well, we survived the first day of school... with not tears from anyone except mom! The day began at 5:45am... Way too early! Especially for a mommy who had been sleeping in til 9 or so all summer. We woke the boys up around 6:30 to leave by 7:00, and we made it with lots of time to spare... but you just never know with Austin traffic! So we get him in the room and all settled and I leaned down for one last hug and kiss and with a lump in my throat I told him I loved him. He told me goodbye, and as I walked off, he said, "Wait.... Mom - Try not to miss me too much!!" It was at that point that I began to well up with tears so I decided to blow a last kiss and walk on out! I made it to the hallway and Coby asked me if someone "beed ugly to me"because I was crying. Cason asked me if I got a boo-boo... It was so cute that they were so concerned to see me cry! I told them that I was just sad that I would miss Micah. They began kinda fussing and fighting there in the hallway, so it was an immediate distraction. I was ok until I rounded the corner to go see my mom in the church office and I lost it... So I made her cry, too.... and then I was over it!
He had a great day! He said that his favorite part was PE and playing on the "big kid playground" (which is right beside the preschool playground that he played on last year). He is totally exhausted, but he is excited to go back again tomorrow! He cannot wait to ride to school with Mr. Devan in the big white van!! (And I am thankful for Mr. Devan... tomorrow I will not have to wake up all the troops at 6:30am!!)

All ready for school in his cute little uniform!!

Taking a break to check out the roly poly.

Proud brothers!

Micah holding baby Bryson.

Showing off his new "Cars" backpack.

The whole gang at the school.

Micah with Mrs. Allen.

The view from the door... he was playing with play-doh as we left!

The night before Kindergarten.....

'Twas the night before kindergarten, and as they prepared,

kids were excited and a little bit scared.

They tossed and they turned about in their beds,

while visions of school supplies danced in their heads.

Erasers and crayons and pencils galore

were stuffed in their backpacks and set by the door.

Outfits were hung in the closets with care,

knowing that kindergarten soon would be there.

In the morning it came--school starts today!

Would the teacher be nice? Would they still get to play?

Faces were washed, and teeth were brushed white;

kids posed for pictures with eyes sparkling bright.

Parents packed snacks, and kids hopped in cars

as if they were boarding a spaceship to Mars.

Some kids brought blankets or their favorite stuffed bear,

in hopes they could nap like they did last year.T

heir parents exclaimed, "You're big kids--wow!

Let us hold your bears and blankies for now."

The parents were worried their children would cry

if they left them at schoolwith just a good-bye.

So they told their darlings, "If you want, we can stay

and make sure that everythingwill be A-okay."

The teacher then greeted each one with a smile,

and invited the students to stay for a while.

The room was all filled with toys, books, and maps,

but where are the beds for midmorning naps?

They colored and painted and played Simon Says,

then tumbled and skipped and stood on their heads.

They sang silly songs from beginning to end.

Within just a minute, each kid had a friend.

The children were happy. They loved Miss Sunrise!

It was she who was in for a giant surprise.

When what to her wondering eyes should appear

but sad moms and dad who were holding back tears!

Their noses--so sniffly! Their eyes--red and wet!

This was the saddest good-bye Miss Sunrise had seen yet!

She gathered the grown-ups on the magical rug,

then sent them away after one final hug.

The children all waved from the door of the school,

"Don't cry, Mom and Dad; kindergarten is cool!"

-- by Natasha Wing

Summertime is comin' to an end!

To celebrate our last real full day of summertime, we went to a kids water park here in Pflugerville with Katie and Nathan and Baby Griffin. The boys had so much fun on the slides! I was Micah's "slide buddy" so there are no pics of him on the slide bc I forgot to have someone else take one, but here are a few pics from our fun times...

Daddy and Cason on the BIG slide (sorry they are so small.... I took it a little too early!)

Coby and Mr. Nathan on the BIG slide! He was so brave and tried it once.... and then he kept on begging to go again! He loved it!

Cason on the slide

Coby on the slide

Hanging out in the whirlpool!

The Family!

Why, why, why....

do I do dumb things??? Most of the time, I have it all together... I am usually prepared with extra diapers, plenty of burprags, extra change of clothes, drinks and snacks for all occasions, a walking pharmacy in our diaper bag, a whole slue of activities to entertain an army of children between the ages of 0-5. We can usually live for a day off of the things I have in my bag! But then at other times, I just do things with out thinking.... So here is how it went down... Clint had been working up at the church building cabinets, so we just met him there last night for dinner and church. So we had 2 cars... I was little miss social, making my rounds catching up with all my friends after church because he had taken all 4 kids home to put them to bed while I hung out and visited. I was going to go grocery shopping on the way home. Being that I was childless, I was the absolute last person to leave church... Kaylee and I had hung out visiting until the parking lot was all dark and empty. Well, I got out to my car (which had started funny earlier today... and I had told Clint that I thought something might be going wrong w/ my battery bc it didnt start right away, which was weird), it would not start. So I ran after my friend, Kaylee, who was about to drive off and asked her to wait for me to make a plan. I called Clint and he told me to go lock it up for now, and we would try to work out a planwith my parents and find a way to get my car home. So I go over to the passenger side door just because it was the closest to me, and the automatic locks make a funny noise... Clint heard it thru the phone and he said, "That sounds like a connection problem. Jiggle the locks and try it again." So I did, and hey, it locked this time. He said now, try to start it... so I pull out my keys, reach across the car, try starting it again, and YEAH! It started. I was excited, I tell Clint that we are cooking with gas, tell Kaylee thanks for hangin around and taking care of me, slam the passenger side door, skip around to the other side of the car, only to discover that yes, the door was locked, my keys were in the ignition, and my car was running... and my spare little key that we used to have hidden was inside my car. Brilliant! Clint is at home (in Pflugerville) with the only extra key... the kids are in bed. The dark parking lot is empty, except for my friend Kaylee, whom I run after yet another time. She is just laughing at me this time as she plays it out in her head and realizes what went down! We called Clint back, only to hear the restraint in his voice as he tried to held back his laughter.... I called my mom and dad to see if they had any ideas.... they decided they would go pick up the key from Clint (and possibly a gas can because the car was going to be running for at least 45 more minutes). In the meantime, Clint gets all 4 boys up out of bed, loads them in the car and heads my way. After several minutes of phonetag, call-waiting, and nexteling back and forth, they decide to meet halfway and make the key exchange. Kaylee sits with me at the church (in the dark parking lot, with our doors locked, and with Sweet Brinton sleeping int he back seat) to be sure that no one comes upon the running car, jimmies the lock and takes off with my suburban! Mom and Dad brought me the key, I skipped the grocery store, and Kaylee followed me home to be sure I made it.... It is to McDonald's for lunch today... and Kaylee and Brinton will have to join us... my treat! Clint looked at my battery when I got home and discovered that it was just that the cables were kinda dirty and not connected very well.... Problem solved. Now if I can just make it to the gas station before we head to McDonalds..... That could make for a good blog post for tomorrow... "Poor absent-minded mommy runs out of gas on the Austin highway in 100 degree heat with 4 wild and wolly boys..... but at least she had extra water, clothes, coloring books, burprags, snacks, meds, hotwheels, and diapers"

Sweet Bryson and Fun Weekend!

Let me begin this post by stating what a great baby I have! Sweet little Bryson has evidently had a pretty bad ear infection for sometime, but he is so sweet that he didn't ever really fuss for me to know something was wrong... so on Saturday night, his ear drum ruptured!! Heis much better now, on antibiotics and drops in his ear. He must be feeling better and making up for lost sleep because he went to bed last night at about 9:00, and I woke him up today at noon! He is a jolly little fella! Here he is with his buddy, Brinton.... how cute are they??


We spent our weekend celebrating Uncle Russell's 30th birthday... except his birthday is not really until October 30, so needless to say, he was pretty surprised that we were all there for his 30th birthday. We met up with lots of family in Midlothian at our Aunt Angie's parents' house... They had a fort, sandbox, trampoline, a pool table, and basketball courts, which doubled as a place for the boys to ride bikes. It was so much fun that the boys kept calling it "Angie's park!" Here is a picture with our cousin-in-laws, I guess you would call them... (they are Angie's other nephews) The boys had so much fun playing together!
Here are Coby & Lance (back row), Cason, Bryce, Micah & Bryson (front row). All in their matching shirts from Aunt Angie!

Happy Birthday, 'Aunt' Brooke!

Happy 27th Birthday to my dear friend, Brooke!! I must say that we have been thru so much together since junior high, and we have so many memories! Thanks for always being such a great friend... I love you bunches!!
Now for a trip down memory lane..... (FYI: Just so that our friendship would continue, I spared you the "tub" picture!)

Brooke and me in 1994... Love the shades!!

In Cancun our freshman year.... the tye-dye and headbands bring back old memories!!

Raggady Ann and Andy for some dress up thing at school.... I hope!

Our Senior year with (a sleepy) Santa Claus.

In Ireland with our friend, Vicki on our senior trip.

Brooke was a bridesmaid in my wedding... she's the tall one!

The boys love 'aunt' Brooke.... yah, I know this pic is old, but it was the latest one I had with more than one of the boys in it.....

I hope you have a great birthday, Brooke! We love you!!!!!

Party Pictures, Part 2

In case you are reading this post first, these pictures are continued from the post below.... Pictures from Cason's Birthday Party:

The Superman cake... I had to post a good picture of it!

Coby and Baby Griffin. He was beggin to hold him again, but he was all wet and cold... so we compromised with a picture... and we threatened him with his life if he got too close, dripped on him and woke him up!

Buddies Bryson and Brinton hangin out in their strollers!

Happy Boy in his baby boat!
Our youngest party member!! Baby Griffin at 5 days old! Sweet thang!
Mr. Brinton is a cutie!
Mimi and Sam hangin out!

Cason's Birthday Bash!

We had a great 3rd birthday partry for Cason... we thought it might be rained out, but the rain actually held off and the clouds made it much more bearable for those on the side watching! The kiddos all had a great time swimming and playing, and eating pizza and cake! This is sucha fun age for birthdays! Cason was just so excited about everything, and all his little friends were so proud of their presents they had picked out!

Once again, blogger has told me that I have too many pictures, so the rest will be on the next post, but here goes for now, for your viewing pleasure......

Coby has now gotten up the nerve to "swim" out into the water without holding onto the side even when his feet donot touch!! This is a huge step for him!

Bryson and the Birthday Boy!

Connor and Micah are little fish!

Present time!!!

Bryson hanging out with daddy... and lovin it!

Cason and Quentin are buddies forever.... but hugs sure are hard to give with life jackets on!
I made him this superman cake that he was sooo excited about!!
Happy Birthday to you, Cason!

Here is the whole gang enjoying their pizza!